Pass of Killiecrankie
looking south down the pass from just above the Soldier's Leap
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From Stirling, Mackay proceeded to Perth, after ordering the troops
of horse and dragoons of the expedition to follow him. On arriving at Perth, a letter was
shown him from Lord Murray, from which he learned, that Dundee, who had been solicited by
Stewart of Ballochin to hasten into Athole, was already marching through Badenoch, and so
anxious was he to anticipate Mackay's arrival in Athole, that he had left behind him
several chiefs and their men, whose junction he daily expected. Lord Murray added, that if
Mackay did not hasten his march so as to reach Athole before Dundee, he would not
undertake to prevent his men from joining the Viscount. As Mackay informs us, that before
leaving Edinburgh he had begun "already to have very ill thoughts of the expedition
in gross", and as on reaching Stirling, the idea that he would be straitened for
provisions haunted his mind, this information was assuredly by no means calculated to
relieve these fearful apprehensions. He had gone too far, however, to retrace his steps
with honor, and although four troops of dragoons and two of horse had not yet joined him,
in the position in which he was then placed, seemed most forcible, to proceed immediately
on his march to Athole.

The last and perhaps most important reason given by himself for this
step, is that, as the possession, by Mackay, of the castle of Blair, was in his opinion
the only means of keeping in awe the Athole-men, (who, from their numbers and strict
attachment to the house of Stewart, were more to be dreaded than any other body of
Highlanders), and preventing them from joining Dundee to roam uncontrolled through the
disaffected district of Athole, gathering strength at every step, or to attempt to gain
the important fortress of Blair.

Such were the grounds, as stated by Mackay in his own exculpation,
which made him resolve upon marching into Athole, and which, he observes, "more
capable commanders might readily be deceived in". Those who make the unfortunate
result of this movement the rule of their judgment, will be apt to condemn Mackay's
conduct on this occasion as rash and injudicious, but when his own reasons are duly
weighed, it is difficult to see how he could have acted otherwise than he did. There can
be no doubt, that had he been as successful at Killiecrankie as he was unfortunate, he
would have been applauded for the exercise of a sound discretion, and regarded as a
tactician of the highest order.

On the 26th of July, Mackay left Perth at the head of an army of
4,500 men. Of this force, notwithstanding that the four troops of dragoons and two of
horse already alluded to, had not yet arrived, a fair proportion consisted of cavalry. At
night Mackay encamped opposite to Dunkeld, and here, at midnight, he received an express
from Lord Murray announcing the alarming intelligence that Dundee had entered Athole, in
consequence of which event he informed him that he had retreated from before the castle of
Blair, which he had for some time partially blockaded; and that although he had left the
narrow and difficult pass of Killiecrankie between him and Dundee, he had posted a guard
at the further extremity to secure a free passage to Mackay's troop through the pass which
he supposed Dundee had already reached. Mackay seems to have doubted the latter part of
this statement, and his suspicions were in some degree confirmed by the fact, that
Lieutenant-colonel Lauder, whom he dispatched with a party immediately on receipt of
Murray's letter, to secure the entrance into the pass from the vale of Blair, did not see
a single man on his arrival there.

Pass of Killiecrankie
Copyright Sunnyside Studio

Discouraging as this intelligence was, Mackay still determined to
persevere in his march, and having dispatched orders to Perth to hasten the arrival of the
six troops of cavalry he had left behind, he put his army in motion next morning, July
27th, at day-break, and proceeded in the direction of the pass, the entrance to which he
reached at ten o'clock in the morning. Here he halted, and allowed his men two hours to
rest and refresh themselves before they entered upon the bold and hazardous enterprise of
plunging themselves into a frightful chasm, out of which they might possibly never return.
To support Lauder in case of attack, the general, on halting, dispatched through the pass
a body of 200 men under the command of the Lieutenant-colonel of the Earl of Leven's
regiment whom he instructed to send him any intelligence he could obtain of Dundee's
motions. A short way below the pass Mackay fell in with Lord Murray, who informed him,
that with the exception of 200 or 300 men, who still remained with him, the whole had gone
to the hills to secure their cattle, an answer which Mackay, with the open and
unsuspecting generosity of a soldier, considered satisfactory, and made him, as he
observes, "not so apt to judge so ill of Murray as others did".

Having received a notice from Lauder that the pass was clear, and
that there was no appearance of Dundee, Mackay put his army again in motion, and entered
the fatal pass. Hasting's regiment (now the 13th), and Annandale's horse were placed
behind to protect the baggage, from an apprehension that Dundee's Highlanders might make a
detour round the hill to attack it, or that the country people might attempt to plunder it
if not so guarded. The idea that no opposition would be offered to their passage through
this terrific defile, which seemed to forbid approach, and to warn the unhappy soldier of
the dangers which awaited him should he precipitate himself into its recesses, may have
afforded some consolation to the feelings of Mackay's troops as they entered this den of
desolation' but when they found themselves fairly within its gorge, their imaginations
must have been appalled as they gazed, at every successive step, on the wild and terrific
objects which encompassed them on every side. They however proceeded, at the command of
their general, on their devious course, and finally cleared it, with the loss of only a
single horseman, who, according to an Athole tradition, was shot by an intrepid
adventurer, named Ian Ban Beg MacRan, who had posted himself on a hill, from which he
fired across the rivulet of the Garry and brought down his victim. A well, called in
Gaelic, Fuaran u trupar, Anglice, the "Horsemans's well", is shown as the place
where the horseman fell.

As soon as the five battalions and the troop of horse which preceded
the baggage had debouched from the further extremity of the pass, they halted, by command
of the general, upon a corn field, along he side of the river to await the arrival of the
baggage, and of Hasting's regiment and the other troop of horse. Mackay then ordered
Lieutenant-colonel Lauder to advance with his 200 fusiliers and a troop of horse in the
direction he supposed Dundee might be expected to appear. Lauder had not advanced far when
he discovered some parties of Dundee's forces between him and Blair. Being immediately
apprised of this by Lauder, Mackay, after giving orders to Colonel Balfour to supply the
troops with ammunition, and to put them under arms without delay, galloped off to the
ground, from which Lauder had espied the enemy, to observe their motions before making
choice of the field of battle. On arriving at the advanced post, Mackay observed several
small parties of troops, scarcely a mile distant, marching slowly along the foot of a hill
in the direction of Blair, and advancing towards him. Mackay, thereupon, sent orders to
Balfour to advance immediately up to him with the foot. But these orders were no sooner
dispatched than he observed some bodies of Dundee's forces marching down a high hill
within quarter of a mile from the place where he stood, in consequence of which movement,
he immediately galloped back to his men to countermand the order he had just issued, and
to put his army in order of battle.

Dundee, who had been duly advertised of Mackay's motions, had
descended from the higher district of Badenoch into Athole on the previous day, with a
force of about 2,500 men, of whom about one-fifth part consisted of the Irish, which had
lately landed at Inverlochy under Brigadier Cannon. Some of the clans which were expected
had not yet joined, as the day appointed for the general rendezvous had not then arrived;
but as Dundee considered it of paramount importance to prevent Mackay from establishing
himself in Athole, he did not hesitate to meet the latter, whose force numbered about
4,000.

On his arrival at the castle of Blair, intelligence was brought
Dundee that Mackay had reached the pass of Killiecrankie, which he was preparing to enter.
Dundee, against the advice of most of his officers, resolved to allow Mackay to enter the
pass undisputed. He appealed to the feelings of the Highlanders, whose ancestors, he said,
acting upon their national maxim never to attack a foe who could not defend himself on
equal terms, would have disdained to adopt the course proposed, (and in saying so he did
not, he observed, mean to insinuate that the persons he addressed had degenerated from the
honor and courage of their ancestors). One principal reason stated by Dundee for allowing
Mackay to advance through the Pass unmolested, was the great advantage they would gain by
engaging him on open ground before he should be joined by his English dragoons, who, from
their being so formidable to the Highlanders, would, if allowed by him to come up, more
than compensate for any accession of force which Dundee might receive. Another reason not
less important was, that in the event of Mackay sustaining a defeat, his army would
probably be ruined, as he could not retreat back through the Pass without the risk of
evident destruction, whereas should the Highlanders suffer a defeat, he had already given
orders to his friends in the neighborhood, to cut off the few remaining stragglers that
might attempt to escape.

The forces which had been descried by Lauder, appear to have been a
body of 400 men under the command of Sir John Maclean, whom Dundee, on learning that the
advanced guard of Mackay's army, after traversing the pass, had taken up a position near
its northern extremity, had dispatched from Blair castle to keep them in check. But his
scouts having shortly thereafter brought him notice that the whole of Mackay's army was
preparing to enter the pass, he resolved to make a detour with the main body of his army
round the hill on which the castle of Lude stands, in the vicinity of the pass, and fall
upon Mackay as soon as he should clear that defile. Having made himself acquainted of the
country people, with the localities in the immediate neighborhood of the pass, and of the
suitableness of the ground for the operations of such a force as his, he advanced at
double-quick time from Blair along the present line of road, and on arriving at the river
Tilt, turned off to the left round the back of the hill, and crossed that river near its
confluence with the rivulet of Ald Chluan. This movement will account for the sudden and
unexpected appearance of Dundee on the face of the high hill on Mackay's right.

Immediately above the ground on which Mackay had halted his troops
is an eminence, the access to which is steep and difficult, and covered with trees and
shrubs. Alarmed lest Dundee should obtain possession of this eminence - which being within
a carbine shot from the place on which Mackay stood, would give him such a command of the
ground as would enable him, by means of his fire, to force Mackay to cross the river in
confusion - he, immediately on his return from the position occupied by his advanced
guard, "made every battalion form by a Quart de Conversion to the right upon the
ground where they stood". and then made them march each in succession before him up
the hill till they reached the eminence immediately above the house of Urrard, which
Dundee had reached before Mackay had completed his ascent, and on which he halted.

At this conjuncture, neither Hasting's regiment nor Annandale's
troop of horse had yet come out of the pass, but Mackay, nevertheless, at once proceeded
to arrange his men in fighting order on a plain between the edge of he eminence and the
foot or commencement of the ascent to Dundee's position, which, from its extent, enabled
him to form his men in one line along the eminence. In making his dispositions, Mackay
divided every battalion into two parts, and as he meant to fight three deep, he left a
small distance between each of these sub-battalions. In the center of his line, however,
he left a greater interval of space, behind which he placed the two troops of horse, with
the design, when the Highlanders, after the fire of the line had been spent, should
approach, to draw them off by this larger interval, and flank the Highlanders on either
side, as occasion should offer. Mackay assigns as his reason for placing his cavalry in
his rear till the fire should be exhausted on both sides, a dread huge entertained of
exposing them to Dundee's horse, with whom it could not be supposed that these
newly-raised levies could cope. Hasting's regiment, which arrived after Mackay had taken
up his ground, was placed on the right; and, for greater security, there was added to it a
detachment of firelocks from each battalion. On the extreme left on a hillock covered with
tress, Lieutenant-colonel Lauder was posted, with his party of 200 men, composed of the
elite of the army. Mackay having been recognized by Dundee's men busily employed riding
along his line, from battalion to battalion, giving orders, was selected by some of them
for a little ball practice; but although "their popping shot", which wounded
some of his men, fell around him whenever he moved, he escaped unhurt.

After his line had been fully formed, Mackay rode along the front,
from the left wing, which he committed to the charge of Brigadier Balfour, to the right,
and having ascertained that everything was in readiness to receive the enemy, he addressed
the battalions nearest him in a short speech. He requested them to reflect that their own
personal safety was involved in the issue of that day's contest; and assured them that if
they maintained their ground, and kept firmly and closely united together, their
assailants would quickly flee before them for refuge to the hills - that the reason for
which the Highlanders stripped themselves almost naked before battle was rather to enable
them to escape, than from any hopes they entertained of pursuing their foes. Should,
however, his men unfortunately give way before the rabble of Highlanders whom they saw
marshaled on the adjoining heights - an event which he by no means expected - there was an
absolute certainty, as these naked mountaineers were more nimble-footed than they were,
and as all the Athole-man were in arms, ready to take advantage of their defeat, that few
or none of them, would escape with their lives. In conclusion, he warned them that the
only way to avoid ruin was to stand firm to their posts, and, like brave men, to fight to
the last in defense of their religion and liberties, against the invaders of both, to
secure which, and not the desire of the crown, was the sole reason which had induced his
majesty to send them on the present service.

Whilst Mackay was thus occupied on the lower platform, his gallant
rival was equally busy flying about on the eminence above, ranging his men in battle
array. He was particularly distinguished amongst his officers by a favorite dun-coloured
horse which he rode, and by his plated armor, which glittered in the sun-beams. Dundee,
who had arrived upon the higher platform about the same time that Mackay had gained the
ground he now occupied, ranged his men in one line in the following order - On the right,
he placed Sir John Maclean, with his regiment divided into two battalions. On the left, he
posted the regiment of Sir Donald Macdonald, commanded by the young chief and Sir George
Barclay, and a battalion under Sir Alexander Maclean. In the center were placed four
battalions, consisting of the Camerons, the Macdonells of Glengary and Clanranald, and the
Irish regiment, with a troop of horse under the command of Sir William Wallace, who had
early that morning produced a commission, to the great displeasure of the Earl of
Dunfermline and other officers, appointing him colonel of a horse regiment which the earl
commanded. It may be observed, that neither Mackay nor Dundee placed any body of reserve
behind their lines.

The great extent of Mackay's line, which reached considerably beyond
Dundee's wings, compelled the latter, to prevent the danger of being outflanked, to
enlarge the intervals between his battalions. A general movement from right to left
accordingly took place along Dundee's line. Before Dundee's left halted, Mackay, imagining
that the object of the movement in that quarter was to get between him and the pass, for
the purpose of cutting off all communication between him and Perth, made his line make a
corresponding movement to his right, but on observing that Dundee's left wing halted,
Mackay brough his line to a stand. These different movements necessarily occupied a
considerable time, and both armies being now finally arranged, they gazed upon each other
with great composure for the space of two whole hours.

During this interval of care and anxious suspense, the feelings of
both parties - their hopes or their fears - would probably be tinctured by a deeper hue of
confidence or despondency as they reflected on the events or former days. Though more than
forty years had elapsed since the brilliant achievements of Montrose, the Highlanders,
naturally brave, had lost none of their military ardor, and the descendants of the heroes
of Tippermuir, Aldearn, and Kilsyth, who now stood in battle array on the upper plain,
whence, with a scowl of scorn and defiance, they looked down upon the Sassenachs below,
calling to mind the recital of the heroic deeds of their fathers, to which they had
listened with wonder and enthusiasm in their childhood, would burn for the moment when, at
the command of their chief, they should measure their broad swords with the bayonets of
their Lowland foes. On the other hand, Mackay's men had no such recollections to inspire
confidence or to cheer them in their perilous enterprise, and when they beheld the
Highland host ready at a moment's notice to burst like a mountain torrent upon their
devoted heads, and called to mind the tales they had heard of the warlike prowess of the
Highlanders, they could no but recoil at the idea of encountering, in deadly strife, such
determined antagonists. There were, it is true, many men in Mackay's army to whom the
dangers of the battle field were familiar, and in whose minds such reflections would
doubtless find no place, but the great majority of his troops consisted of newly raised
levies, who had never before seen the face of an enemy.

Mackay himself, though an old and experiences offices, and a brave
man, was not without his misgivings; and as the evening advanced without any movement on
the part of Dundee to commence the action, his uneasiness increased. Nor were his
apprehensions likely to be allayed by the reply made by the second son of Lochiel, who
held a commission in his own regiment of Scots fusiliers, in answer to a question put to
him by Mackay. "Here is your father with his wild savages", said Mackay to the
young man, on seeing the standard of the Camerons, putting on at the same moment an air of
confidence, "how would you like to be with him?". "It signifies
little", answered the son of the chief, "what I would like, but I recommend to
you to be prepared; or perhaps my father and his wild savages may be nearer to you before
night than you would like". The apparent irresolution of the Highlanders to begin the
battle was considered by Mackay as intentional, and he supposed that their design was to
wait till nightfall, when, by descending suddenly from their position, and setting up a
loud shout, according to their usual custom, they expected to frighten his men,
unaccustomed to an enemy, and put them in disorder. As Mackay could not, without the
utmost danger, advance up the hill and commence the action, and as the risk was equally
great should he attempt to retreat down the hill and cross the river, he resolved, at all
hazards, to remain in his position, "though with impatience", as he observes,
till Dundee should either attack him or retire, which he had better opportunities of doing
than Mackay had. To provoke the Highlanders, and to induce them to engage, he ordered
three small leather field pieces to be discharged, but they provided of little use, and
the carriages being much too high, broke after the thrid firing.

Pass of Killiecrankie
from the road bridge looking north up the passCopyright
Sunnyside Studio

Towards the close of the evening, some of Dundee's sharpshooters,
who had kept up, during the day, an occasional fire in the direction in which they
observed Mackay moving, by which they had wounded some of his men, as already stated, took
possession of some houses upon the ascent which lay between the two armies, for the
purpose of directing their aim with surer effect. But they were immediately dislodged by a
party of musketeers dispatched by Mackay's brother, who commanded the general's regiment,
and chased back to their main body with some loss. This skirmish Mackay supposed would
soon draw on a general engagement, and his expectations were speedily realized.

It was within half an hour if sunset, and the moment was at hand,
when, at the word of command, the Highlanders and their allies were to march down the
hill, and with sword in hand, fall upon the trembling and devoted host below, whom, like
the eagle viewing his destined prey from his lofty Eyre, they had so long surveyed. Having
determined, as much to please his men as to gratify his own inclination, to lead the
charge in person, at the head of the horse, Dundee exchanged his red coat, which he had
worn during the day, and by which he had been recognized by Mackay's troops, for another
of darker colour, to conceal his rank, and thereby avoid the risk of being singled out by
the enemy. Dundee, after the manner of the ancient Greek and Roman generals, is said to
have harangued his men in the following enthusiastic strain:-

"You are come hither to fight, and that in the best of causes;
for it is the battle of your king, your religion, and your country, against the foulest
usurpation and rebellion. And having therefore so good a cause in your hands, I doubt not
but it will inspire you with an equal courage to maintain it; for there is no proportion
betwixt loyalty and treason, nor should there be any betwixt the valour of good subjects
and traitors. Remember that t-day begins the fate of your king, your religion, and your
country. Behave yourselves, therefore, like true Scotsmen, and let us by this action
redeem the credit of this nation, that is laid low by the treacheries and cowardice of
some of our countrymen, in making which request, I ask nothing of you that I am not now
ready to do myself. And if any of us shall fall upon this occasion, we shall have the
honor of dying on our duty, and as becomes true men of valor and conscience; and such of
us as shall live and win the battle, shall have the reward of a gracious king and the
praise of all good men. In God's name, then, let us go on, and let this be your word -
King James and the church of Scotland, which God long preserve!".

A pause now ensued and a death-like silence prevailed along the
line, when, on a sudden, it appeared in motion, marching slowly down the hill. The
Highlanders, who stripped themselves to their shirts and doublets, advanced, according to
their usual practice, with their bodies bent forward, so as to present as small a surface
as possible to the fire of the enemy, the upper part of their bodies being covered by
their targets.

To discourage the Highlanders in their advance by keeping up a
continual fire, Mackay had given instructions to his officers commanding battalions, to
commence firing by platoons, at the distance of a hundred paces. This prder was not
attended to, as Balfour's regiment, and the half of Ramsay's, did not fire a single shot,
and the other half fired very little. The Highlanders, however, met with a very brisk fire
from Mackay's right, and particularly from his own battalion, in which no less than 16
gentlemen of the Macdonells of Glengarry fell; but, undismayed by danger, they kept
steadily advancing in the face of the enemy's fire, of which they received three rounds.
Having now come close up to the enemy, they halted for a moment, and having leveled and
discharged their pistols, which did little execution, they set up a loud shout and rushed
sword in hand upon the enemy, before the latter had time to screw on their bayonets to the
end of their muskets. The shock was too impetuous to be long resisted by men, who,
according to their own general, "behaved, with the exception of Hasting's and Leven's
regiment, like the vilest cowards in nature". But even had these men been more
stout-hearted, their courage would not have availed them, as their arms were insufficient
to parry off the tremendous strokes of the exes, and the broad and double-edged swords of
the Highlanders, who, with a single blow, either felled their opponents to the earth or
struck off a member from their bodies, and at once disabled them. While the work of death
was thus going on towards the right, Dundee, at the head of the horse, made a furious
charge on Mackay's own battalion, and broke through it, on which the English horse which
were stationed behind, fled without firing a single shot. Dundee, thereupon, rode off to
attack the enemy's cannon, but the officer (Sir William Wallace) who had that morning
produced his commission as colonel of the horse, appears to have misunderstood Dundee,
who, on arriving near the enemy's cannon, found himself alone. He, therefore, gave the
horse a signal to advance quickly, on which the Earl of Dunfermline, who then served only
as a volunteer, overlooking the affront which had been put upon him, rode out of the
ranks, followed by 16 gentlemen, attacked the party who guarded the cannon, and captured
them.

As soon as Mackay perceived that Dundee's grand point of attack was
near the center of his line, he immediately resolved to attack the Highlanders in flank
with the two troops of horse which he had placed in the rear of his line, for which
purpose he ordered Lord Belhaven to proceed round the left wing with his own troop, and
attack them on their right flank; he ordered at the same time the other troop to proceed
in the contrary direction, and assail them on their left. Mackay himself led round
Bellhaven's troop, but it was scarcely in front of the line when it got into disorder, and
instead of obeying the orders to wheel for the flank of the enemy, after some confused
firing it turned upon the right wing of Lord Kenmure's battalion, which it threw into
disorder, and which thereupon began to give way.

At this critical moment Mackay, who was instantly surrounded by a
crowd of Highlanders, anxious to disentangle his cavalry, so as to get them formed, called
aloud to them to follow him, and putting spurs to his horse galloped through the enemy,
but with the exception of one servant whose horse was shot under him, not a single
horseman attempted to follow their general. When he had gone sufficiently far to be out of
the reach of immediate danger, he turned round to observe the state of matters, and to his
infinite surprise he found that both armies had disappeared. To use his own expression,
"in the twinkling of an eye, in a manner", his own men as well as the enemy were
out of sight, having gone down pell-mell to the river where his baggage stood. The flight
of his men must have been rapid indeed, for although the left wing, which had never been
attacked, had begun to flee before he rode off, the right wing and center still kept their
ground.

Mackay now stood in one of the most extraordinary predicaments in
which the commander of an army was ever placed. His whole men had, as if by some
supernatural cause, disappeared almost in an instant of time, and he found himself
standing a solitary being on the mountain side, not knowing what to do, or whither to
direct his course. Whether had they had the courage to follow him, the timid troop would
have turned the tide of victory in his favor, may indeed be well doubted; but it is
obvious that he adopted the only alternative which could render success probable. Judging
from the ease with which he galloped through the Highlanders, who made way for him, he
thinks that if had had but 50 resolute horse such as Colchester's, he "had
certainly", as he says, "by all human appearance recovered all", for
although his whole line had begun to give way when he ordered the horse to follow him, the
right of the enemy had not then moved from their ground. While ruminating upon the
"sad spectacle" which he now beheld, his mind preyed upon by the most gloomy
reflections, he fortunately espied to the right, "a small heap of red coats",
which he immediately galloped for, and found it to consist of a part of the Earl of
Leven's regiment, mixed with a few stragglers from other regiments who had escaped from
the swords of the Highlanders. The Earl himself, his Lieutenant-colonel, the Major, and
most of the other officers of the regiment, were with this body. Mackay perceived a part
of Hasting's regiment marching up to the ground it had occupied at the commencement of the
action. Having rode up to this party, he was informed by the Colonel that he had left his
ground in pursuit of the enemy, a detachment of which had attempted to outflank him, but
having wheeled to the right upon them with his pikes, they abandoned the idea of attacking
him, and repaired to their main body, which they observed among the baggage at the
river-side.

The plunder which the baggage offered was too tempting a lure for
the Highlanders, whose destructive progress it at once arrested. It was in fact solely to
this thirst for spoil that Mackay and the few of his men who escaped owed their safety,
for had the Highlanders continued the pursuit, it is very probable that not a single
individual of Mackay's army would have been left alive to relate their sad disaster.

As soon as Mackay had got up Hasting's battalion and joined it to
that of Leven's, he dispatched his nephew, Captain Mackay, who, though he had received
eight broad-sword wounds on his body, was still able to ride his horse, in quest of such
of his officers as might be within his reach, about the bottom of the hill, with orders to
collect as many of their men as they could, and join the general.

This mission was totally unsuccessful, for although he had fallen in
with several officers, few of them took any notice of him; and all who had survived the
battle were now scattered far beyond Mackay's reach. While receiving this afflicting
intelligence, Mackay descried in the twilight, a large body of men, who appeared to form
themselves along the edge of a wood on Balfour's left, where Lieutenant-colonel Lauder had
been posted with 200 men. As he was not yet aware of the fate of Lauder's corps, which was
among the first that fled, he supposed that the body he had observed might either be that
party of another body of his men who had retired to the wood on the descent of the
Highlanders, and he therefore rode off to reconnoiter them, after directing his officers
to endeavor to put their men in a condition to fire one discharge, at least, if attacked.
Mackay approached the party sufficiently near to discover that they were Dundee's men, and
having turned his horse's head he walked slowly back, that he might not excite the
apprehensions of the Highlanders. The ground on which Mackay stood with the wreck of his
army, amounting to scarcely 400 men, was the farthest removed of any other part of the
position he had selected in the morning, from the point to which he was necessarily
obliged to direct his retreat, and over the intervening space he could not but expect to
fall in with parties of the Highlanders, who would fall upon him. and kill or disperse his
tired followers. But he extricated himself from the difficulties which beset him, with
considerable adroitness. He advised them on no account to show any inclination to run,
but, on the contrary, might endanger it the more, as the Highlanders, observing their
terror, would certainly break in among them, and pursue them with the greater avidity.
When about to retire down the hill the party was joined by Lord Belhaven, and a few other
horsemen, who proved very serviceable as scouts during the retreat. Mackay then led his
men slowly down the hill, and evaded the enemy so completely that he did not meet with the
least interruption in his march. He retired across the Garry without molestation, and made
a short halt to ascertain whether he was pursued. Seeing no disposition on the part of the
Highlanders to follow him, he began to think of the best way of returning out of Athole.
All his officers advised him to return to Perth through the pass of Killiecrankie, but he
saw proper to reject this advice, and resolved to march several miles up Athole and cross
over the hills to Stirling.

Giving orders, therefore, to his men to march, he proceeded to the
west along the bank of the river, and had the satisfaction, when about two miles from the
field of battle, to come up with a party of about 150 fugitives almost without arms, under
the command of Colonel Ramsay, who was quite at a loss what direction to take. Mackay then
continued his march along the edge of a rivulet which falls into the Garry, till he came
to some little houses. Here he obtained from one of the inhabitants, information as to the
route he meant to follow, and having made himself acquainted, as far as he could, by an
examination of his map, with the situation of the country through which he had to pass, he
crossed the stream and proceeded across the hills towards Weem castle, the seat of the
chief of the clan Menzies, whose son had been in the action with a company of 100
Highlanders he had raised for the service of the government. After a most fatiguing
journey, he reached the castle before morning. Here he obtained some sleep and
refreshment, of which he stood greatly in need, having since his departure from Dunkeld,
on the morning preceding, marched about 40 miles.

The news of Mackay's defeat had preceded his retreat; and on his
march during the following day, he found the country through which he passed in an uproar,
and every person arming in favor of King James. The people of Strathtay alarmed at the
approach of Mackay's men, whom they took to be Highlanders, and considering their houses
and cattle in danger, set up a dreadful shout, which so frightened Mackay's men that they
began to flee back to the hills under an apprehension that the Highlanders were at hand.
Mackay and some of his officers on horseback, by presenting their pistols and threatening
the fugitives, succeeded in rallying them, but owing to the thickness of the morning more
that 100 escaped, all of whom were killed, stripped, or taken prisoners by the country
people. Mackay continued his march with very little halting all that day, being Sunday the
28th, and arrived late at night at Drummond castle, in which he had a garrison. Next day
he reached Stirling with about 400 men.

On the morning after the battle - for night had thrown its curtain
over the horrors of the scene, before the extent of the carnage could be ascertained - the
field of battle and the ground between it and the river, extending as far as the pass,
presented an appalling spectacle in the vast numbers of the dead which strewed the savage
and unrelenting ferocity with which Mackay's men had been hewn down by the Highlanders.
Here might be seen a skull which had been struck off above the ears by a stroke from a
broad-sword - there a head lying near the trunk from which it had been severed - here an
arm or a limb - there a corpse laid open from the head to the brisket; while interspersed
among these lifeless trunks, dejectaque membra, were to be seen broken pikes, small swords
and muskets, which had been snapped asunder by the athletic blows of the Lochaber axe and
broad-sword.

If the importance of a victory is to be reckoned by the comparative
numbers of the slain, and the brilliant achievements of the victors, the battle of
Killiecrankie may well stand high in the list of military exploits. Considering the
shortness of the combat, the loss on the part of Mackay was prodigious. Not less than
2,000 of his men were either killed or captured. Among the slain were Lieutenant-colonel
Mackay, brother of the General, Brigadier Balfour, and several other officers. Highland
tradition reports that Balfour was cut down by the Reverend Robert Stewart, a Catholic
clergyman, nephew to Stewart of Ballochin, for having contemptuously refused to receive
quarter when offered him by the priest. The same tradition relates that Stewart, who was a
powerful muscular man, followed the enemy in their flight down to the river, and towards
the pass, wielding a tremendous broad-sword, with which he cut down numbers of the
fugitives, and so much did he exert himself in the use of his fatal weapon, that, at the
conclusion of the carnage, his hand had swollen to such an extent, that it could only be
extricated from the basket-hilt of his sword, by cutting away the net-work.